Chapter 92: You Kiss Me Once, Or I Kiss You Once
In the car, Du Xun looked at Shen Zhuo, who had insisted on tagging along.
He sighed for the fifth time.
“It’s not a pleasant situation, and it could be dangerous.”
Shen Zhuo sat in the passenger seat, adjusting his cuffs, and glanced at him unmoved.
“S4s are allowed to participate in classified missions, so don’t even think about leaving me behind again.”
This time, Du Xun was finally rendered speechless, unable to find a reason to refute him.
He pursed his lips and fell silent for a moment.
At a red light, a slender, fair hand grasped his chin and turned his face to the right.
“Twenty seconds left. You kiss me once, or I kiss you once.”
Du Xun’s furrowed brows finally relaxed. He chuckled lightly and leaned in to kiss the young man’s lips.
“I won’t leave you behind again.”
When they arrived at the research institute, several researchers were already waiting outside.
Their badges read “Zerg Research Base.”
The research institute was a massive complex. Aside from branches for medicine, weaponry, and technology, there was also a base directly affiliated with the military.
The Zerg Research Base.
Everyone wore military uniforms underneath their white lab coats. When they saw Du Xun get out of the car, they saluted in unison.
“Commander-in-Chief!”
They then looked at Shen Zhuo and saluted again: “Hello, Madam!”
Their voices were even louder and more synchronized than when they greeted the Commander.
Shen Zhuo returned the gesture: “Hello.”
The group immediately began to lead the way, walking at a very fast pace.
Du Xun asked, “What happened?”
“The Humanoid Zerg is acting abnormally. You’ll understand the specifics once you see it.”
They practically jogged the whole way. After a dual fingerprint and iris unlock, the base’s main gate opened.
It revealed a wide passage leading downward.
The Zerg Research Base was located deep underground in the eastern part of the institute, guarded by layers of checkpoints and protective barriers.
Finally reaching the underground lab, one could see honeycomb-like small rooms packed closely together.
Many researchers, wearing white coats over military uniforms, were running frantically in one direction.
The group leading Du Xun and Shen Zhuo was headed by a man named Dr. Chen.
Dr. Chen pointed to the path opposite the fleeing crowd.
“The base is currently evacuating. Please go this way!”
The faster the crowd ran in the opposite direction, the more Shen Zhuo sensed something was wrong.
Until he finally saw the Humanoid Zerg…
Shen Zhuo’s breath hitched, and his eyes widened slightly.
It was a primal, physiological fear.
Opposite them was a species that looked no different from a human in facial features, but its limbs had oddly long joints.
The arc of its open mouth was far beyond what a human could achieve.
The Zerg could stand on two legs or crawl on all fours.
When it crawled, its joints twisted grotesquely, and mucus dripped from its mouth onto the floor.
The Uncanny Valley effect reached its peak at this moment.
“This bug was originally dormant. We don’t know why it woke up today. We were afraid it might spray toxic gas, so we evacuated our colleagues first.”
Dr. Chen handed two gas masks to Du Xun and Shen Zhuo.
The Zerg was dragging two-meter-long chains from its limbs and charging around violently.
The glass room that had confined it was already shattered, with shards of glass scattered everywhere.
The chains had clearly been added later.
One leg wasn’t fully secured.
Under the Zerg’s violent struggles, it already showed signs of coming loose.
“This!” Dr. Chen looked terrified.
Du Xun blocked everyone behind him, reaching back to grip the gun on his utility belt.
Pheromones were useless against species other than humans.
So here, there was no difference between an S5 and a D-rank.
“Du Xun, let me.”
Shen Zhuo gently touched the man’s arm.
The Zerg had evolved to possess super-regenerative abilities and highly tough skin.
Ordinary knives and guns could hardly cause damage unless it was a fatal blow.
Their only weakness was the head.
Only by severing the head with a mecha could they truly be killed.
“No, it’s too dangerous.” Du Xun stopped him immediately. “Stand back!”
The young man simply said softly:
“Trust me.”
Du Xun turned his head, seeing only the exquisite profile of Shen Zhuo under his flying hair, and those deep, pitch-black eyes fixed on the Zerg.
Du Xun paused, then suddenly let go.
Stopping an eagle from touching danger would never let it grow.
He had to learn to let go.
Du Xun raised his gun swiftly.
The moment Shen Zhuo leaped out, he was ready to provide cover.
His aim followed the Zerg’s violent swaying, locking onto a position that could knock it back with one shot.
Shen Zhuo stepped onto a nearby desk and sprang into the air.
As he fell, his knees slammed fiercely onto the Zerg’s shoulders.
The immense impact made the Zerg’s body sink.
The force drove it directly to its knees.
Shen Zhuo seized the opportunity to grab the chain.
While bending backward to drop down, he clamped the Zerg’s head and flipped backward.
In the instant before his back touched the ground, the young man used his core strength to bounce his entire body up, retracting his legs to stomp on the Zerg’s shoulders.
With quick hands and sharp eyes, he locked the chain around that overly slender leg.
Using the wall for leverage, he flipped and landed.
His movements were fast, without a single wasted motion.
Du Xun watched the boy the entire time.
Only when the Zerg was securely tied did he holster his gun behind his waist.
When Shen Zhuo returned to Du Xun’s side, he lifted his chin slightly, giving Du Xun a “See?” look.
That proud little expression was indescribably cute.
Dr. Chen finally breathed a sigh of relief and immediately explained:
“We asked you to come this time because we detected a certain frequency when the Zerg’s vocal organ vibrated.”
“That is to say, the Humanoid Zerg possesses its own language.”
Previous tests indicated that Humanoid Zergs possessed a certain level of intelligence.
But that intelligence was estimated to be around that of a human child.
If the Zergs had evolved to the point of communicating via language…
That proved the Zergs were still evolving.
And evolving countless times faster than they had imagined.
Dr. Chen’s eyes trembled with fear:
“Perhaps one day in the future, someone we brush past on the street will be a Zerg.”
This was definitely not a situation they wanted to see.
Once the Zergs completed their metamorphosis and truly took on human appearances, it would mean…
The apocalypse was imminent.
All peaceful life would be shattered.
Dr. Chen looked at the Zerg, which was struggling ceaselessly after being tied up.
Cold sweat dripped down drop by drop.
“Everyone would have to be screened and registered daily. The Empire would be divided into countless administrative zones, with various regimes and secret armies fighting for power and status… These things happened two hundred years ago.”
Shen Zhuo’s heart sank.
Yes.
Two hundred years ago.
Before the Zergs had evolved to their current state.
It was a war between humans, and the starting point of the Empire’s establishment.
A dark era frequent with chaotic wars and riots.
Du Xun’s voice was calm: “The solution is?”
“The Broodmother.”
Dr. Chen spoke very fast, his eyes staring tightly at Du Xun, appearing somewhat neurotic.
“The Broodmother is the source of reproduction. Finding the Broodmother and killing her will permanently cut off the Zerg’s evolution and growth.”
Du Xun’s expression shifted slightly.
In fact, for so many years, the military had been searching for the source of the Zergs beyond the Empire’s borders.
But there had been zero progress.
The Research Institute even suspected that the Broodmother might not be a product of this planet, and that humanity was fighting not just bugs, but another planet entirely.
But nothing was conclusive.
Saying they needed to find the Broodmother now was clearly a task harder than ascending to heaven.
Dr. Chen understood the meaning behind Du Xun’s expression.
He immediately found a document on the table covered in shattered glass.
“This is research data obtained from this Zerg. Look—”
“The evolved appearance of the Zerg is becoming more and more human.”
“It’s because they… have acquired human genes.”
“So, finding the Broodmother might not be aimless.”
Dr. Chen looked deeply at Shen Zhuo, then at Du Xun.
His next sentence was chilling:
“Perhaps, it is related to humans.”
…
While everyone fell silent, the Zerg continued to struggle.
Harder each time, the sound of metal chains clashing rang out explosively.
Using any drugs on the Zerg was useless; to quiet them down required either a higher-ranking Zerg or killing them directly.
Shen Zhuo stared at the Zerg while thinking.
Perhaps because his gaze had nowhere else to land, or perhaps he wanted to observe.
Thus, when the Zerg suddenly mutated, Shen Zhuo was the first to notice.
“Duck!!”
Shen Zhuo grabbed Dr. Chen and dove, rolling on the ground to hide behind a desk.
Du Xun had vanished from his spot the moment he heard the word “Duck.”
In the next second, the Zerg roared towards the sky, and four chains snapped simultaneously under its combined force.
The sharp, piercing scream sounded like a baby’s cry with an altered frequency.
Eerie and terrifying, it rushed straight to the brain.
At the same time, green toxic gas began to spew from the Zerg’s mouthparts.
Instantly, visibility dropped to arm’s length.
The moment the toxic gas landed, the evergreen leaves in the flowerpots withered instantly.
That piercing scream made Shen Zhuo immediately clutch his forehead through the gas mask.
Head… hurts so much…
It feels like it’s going to explode…
“Mr. Shen? Mr. Shen!”
Dr. Chen hurriedly used his ability [Shielding], which could temporarily block everything in the surroundings—
Including interference from pheromones, sound waves, strong light, and other particles.
Only then did Shen Zhuo feel a bit better.
He immediately looked around, searching for Du Xun.
He saw the alpha half-kneeling behind another desk, gun raised to return fire.
“Everyone, permission to fire.”
The alpha’s voice rang out.
Carrying absolute security.
Aside from Dr. Chen, who was a civilian, the other researchers present had all served as soldiers in the military.
For a moment, sparks flew in the green toxic gas as bullets rubbed against the air.
Shen Zhuo didn’t have a gun, and he understood that now was not a good time to go out and fight alone.
So he held Dr. Chen down and looked around.
He found a safer hiding spot.
Just as he was preparing to lead Dr. Chen away, the faint rosemary soothing pheromones that had lingered in the air…
Cut off.
“!”
Shen Zhuo whipped his head around.
Through the dense green, he could only see Du Xun’s old injury relapsing.
The alpha was tortured by the pain in his gland, bowing and kneeling down.
“Du Xun!!”
Shen Zhuo’s heart stopped abruptly, and he instinctively rushed over!
But his fingers were still a dozen centimeters away from Du Xun.
A massive figure suddenly broke through the green toxic gas.
The fog-like gas was churned into chaos.
Shen Zhuo felt two extra hands on his body.
The Zerg grabbed his shoulders firmly.
The boy was knocked to the ground by the massive impact force.
The Humanoid Zerg’s terrifying and twisted mouthparts were right in front of him.
Shen Zhuo was pinned to the ground; he could even see the saliva dripping from the Zerg.
But just as Shen Zhuo was preparing to break free, get up, and try to snap its neck.
He saw the Zerg tilt its head, revealing an expression akin to confusion.
Its mouth opened and closed.
Emitting two extremely standard syllables—
“…Ma, ma?”
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